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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: shower · tube · toast · straw · lash · saw · cold · snap

  1. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. shower — rain
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. tube — the underground
  9. snap — to click
  10. cold — not warm
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. toast — a drink to someone
  14. saw — the tool
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. toast — the most admired
  18. saw — the tool
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. shower — to wash
  23. cold — an illness
  24. tube — a container

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com